Harmonie-Rose Allen walked across the finish line of the Bath Half Marathon to a huge round of applause.
A five-year-old girl who lost all her limbs to meningitis has taken part in a half marathon.
Harmonie-Rose Allen walked across the finish line of the Bath Half Marathon to a huge round of applause from spectators.
The little girl, from Bath, had tackled the 13.1-mile course with a seven-person support team, including two of her teachers and family, who took it in turns to push her special running chair.
But Harmonie-Rose was determined to cross the finish line all on her own and was cheered on by the thousands of spectators who had lined the route around Bath city centre as she completed the course in just over three hours.
Harmonie-Rose contracted meningitis and septicaemia in 2014 aged 10 months which resulted in her limbs and part of her nose being amputated.
The schoolgirl, who uses prosthetic legs, was taking part in the half-marathon to raise funds for the Time is Precious charity.
It is thought she is the race’s youngest competitor.
About 15,000 people took part in the run and were watched by an estimated 40,000 spectators.
Running with Harmonie-Rose was her aunt Hannah Hall, who was joined by friends from a local running group, teacher Antony Wainer and teaching assistant Claire Imrie.
Cheering on Harmonie-Rose as she completed the course were her parents, Ross Allen and Freya Hall, who gave her a big hug as she crossed the finish line.
Harmonie-Rose said: “I was freezing. I was a little bit tired.”
An emotional Ms Hall said: “We stopped a few times and Harmonie did get a bit bored but she soldiered on, she was such a little star.
“She was amazing, she is just a normal five-year-old and after the hour she was ‘Where’s my mummy?’ but she just soldiered on.
“At the end she said she wanted to walk, so she went for it. I feel so proud of her.”
Two other children were also taking part alongside Harmonie-Rose.
Seven-year-old Devon Baker, from Midsomer Norton, is undergoing treatment for leukaemia, while Ellie Payne, seven, has undergone heart surgery.
ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
